- Miss Community Gardens
-
Miss Community Gardens Formation 1969 Type Local Female Youth Pageant Headquarters Kensington, Prince Edward Island Location 
CanadaWebsite Official website The Miss Community Gardens pageant is a long-standing competition taking place each summer in Kensington, Prince Edward Island which puts a spotlight on young women representing many of the communities in eastern Prince County. The winner of the pageant is awarded the title of "Miss Community Gardens" for one year, and will act as ambassador for the region during her reign.
The pageant falls under the wider umbrella of the Kensington Harvest Festival, a community festival taking place in mid-August in the sleepy community of Kensington in the heart of Prince Edward Island. The event has come to be known as P.E.I.'s largest country fair and includes many activities aside from the pageant, including a foot race, a beach volleyball tournament, the always popular street parade, a kite-flying contest, an Anne of Green Gables Look-a-like contest, a rec softball tournament, a children's step dancing competition, a teen dance, a pancake breakfast, open bed races, a lyp-sync contest, a chicken and pork barbecue, the Harvest Festival Dance, an ecumenical service, a golf tournament, matinee horse races, a baby pageant, and last but not least, P.E.I.'s largest flower show.[1]
The pageant originated as a beauty contest in 1969, but now prefers to avoid this term and the connotations associated with it; although an Evening Wear portion of the contest remains, it is by no means the only measure used to judge contestants. The pageant takes place over three consecutive evenings in the Community Gardens rink. The pageant is tremendously popular with the residents of Kensington and surrounding communities, and many hundreds assemble each of these evenings to take part. The list of past winners and participants reads like a who's-who of the region's finest young women.
Aside from title of Miss Community Gardens, contestants are awarded prizes for Second Runner Up and Miss Congeniality.
Contents
History
Ida Peppin served as pageant director for each of the first 32 Miss Community Gardens pageants, and officially stepped down in August 2000.[2]
Judging
1) Talent In the Talent portion of the competition the contestant performs on stage before the judges and an audience. Talents often include singing and dancing, but a variety of other talents have been put on display.
2) Evening Wear In the Evening Wear portion of the competition, the contestants are judged on poise and bearing as they walk across the stage.
3) Backstage Interview During the last day of the competition the contestants are asked a series of questions from a pre-determined list that they answer offstage with no preparation. Questions are similar to those of a job interview. The questions require the contestant to display maturity, confidence and poise, and allow the judges to gain further insight into the morality and character of the contestant. This portion of the competition is weighted heavily, approximately 90% of the total score.
Winners
The following is a partial list of winners (1969-2010:
Year Name Sponsor Region Represented 2010 Sarah McFadden Robert's Petro Canada Kensington 2009 Brea Chapman Kensington 2008 Brittany Evans Kensington 2007 Jaclyn Myers Kensington 2006 Grace Pidgeon Kensington 2005 Hilary Murphy - - 2004 Paige Matthie Kensington 2003 Jennifer Caseley - Kelvin Grove 2002 Candace Woodside - Norboro 2001 Krista MacLellan Caseley's Bridal Boutique Indian River 2000 Melanie Stavert Kensington 1999 Jodi Bernard (neé Waite) - Kensington 1998 Jeanette Clark Kensington 1997 Jennifer Picketts Kensington 1996 Lindsay Johnston Kensington 1995 Jaime Moase Kensington 1969 Norma Dougherty (neé Hickey) - Kensington Notable Contestants
Rose Cousins, Halifax, Nova Scotia based singer-songwriter.
Hilary Murphy, up-and-coming artisan, entrepreneur and fashionista.
Candace Woodside, CFCY Summerside radio personality and all-round tremendous athlete.
Notable Escorts
Curtis Picketts – Curtis is a local pageant enthusiast from the nearby community of Margate. He is widely regarded as the only man to escort three separate contestants on three separate years, thereby earning him the unofficial title of Mr. Community Gardens.[3]
Logan MacKay - Logan escorted a Miss Community Gardens contestant in the early 2000's. Logan, a physical specimen of a man, is believed to be the second tallest escort in the history of the pageant. His ego, however, would be among the largest to grace the competition.
Tim Chaisson - A well known and handsome island musician, Timothy gained notoriety in 2005 for escorting a mysterious out-of-towner, while being an out-of-towner himself. [3]
Josh Gill - In 2001, Josh escorted Winner Krista MacLellan, in a dapper outfit, accompanied by sandals, starting a fashion trend that took over the world.
Controversy
The Journal Pioneer, The Guardian and Island radio stations provided limited coverage in August 1999 of the Harvest Festival. The County Line Courier, however, did provide coverage of the event.[4]
Further controversy erupted in 2008, when the Kensington and Area Recreation Association became involved in bringing back the Miss Teen P.E.I. International pageant, a scholarship pageant where there is no swimsuit component. The entrants represent a charity and they take part in scholastic tests. In June 2008, the Journal-Pioneer published an article which expressed the opinion that pageants are outdated spectacles that put beauty on display. The article went on to say that pageants is degrading to women, and that if the town wants an event that will empower the teens in the community and earn them money for school, the town might look at a scholarship that young people of both genders and all shapes and sizes can vie for.[5]
Hosts
- Ida Peppin: 1969-1999
See also
References
- ^ "Kensington Launches Annual Harvest Festival". http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca.+Archived+from the original on 2011-02-19. http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca/WebPages/Search/Doc.aspx?DocName=news%C2%B719970822%C2%B7GC%C2%B70chg_199733_lmt0118&ContainerType=SearchResult. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ "Ida Peppin dies in Saskatoon: Directed Kensington Pageant For Three Decades". http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca.+Archived+from the original on 2011-02-19. http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca/WebPages/Search/Doc.aspx?DocName=news%C2%B720020912%C2%B7JP%C2%B70sjp_200261_lmt0032&ContainerType=SearchResult. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ a b "Contestants Vie for Miss Community Gardens Crown". http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca.+Archived+from the original on 2011-02-19. http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca/WebPages/Search/Doc.aspx?DocName=news%C2%B720050822%C2%B7GC%C2%B70085&ContainerType=SearchResult. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ "Local Events Ignored by Island Media". http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca.+Archived+from the original on 2011-02-19. http://library.eureka.cc.rlproxy.upei.ca/WebPages/Search/Doc.aspx?DocName=news%C2%B720070901%C2%B7GC%C2%B70015&ContainerType=SearchResult. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
- ^ "Put Away the Pageants". http://www.journalpioneer.com/Opinion/Editorials/2008-06-18/article-1400228/Put-away-the-pageants/1.+Archived+from the original on 2011-02-19. http://www.journalpioneer.com/Opinion/Editorials/2008-06-18/article-1400228/Put-away-the-pageants/1. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
External links
Categories:- Beauty pageants in Canada
- Culture of Prince Edward Island
- Prince County, Prince Edward Island
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
